Have you ever had a Sticky Toffee Pudding? It's a moist, dense cake with a rich caramel-like sauce, not a pudding in the American sense of the word. It's a traditional dessert from England, and, while sweet (and yes, sticky!), it has a rich and wonderfully complex flavor.
My husband requested Sticky Toffee Pudding for his birthday cake yesterday, and I was delighted to oblige! The whole family loves Sticky Toffee Pudding!
Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe (Originally from Bon Appetit, April 1999):
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/4 cups chopped dates
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups flour
Before you do anything else, do this step. Combine the water, baking soda, and chopped dates in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat, and let it cool COMPLETELY. You don't want this mixture to be hot or even warm when you add it to the other ingredients (most notably the butter).
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each egg is added. Mix in the vanilla and salt. Stir the baking powder into the flour, then add that mixture to the other ingredients. Add the cooled date/water/baking soda mixture and mix until combined.
Pour the batter into a nonstick or well-buttered bundt cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (it won't be done yet! you need to do the next step before the second baking bit).
Sticky Toffee Pudding Sauce Recipe and Ingredients:
- 4 cups heavy cream
- two cups brown sugar
- one stick (1/2 cup) butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Combine all sauce ingredients in a large saucepan, and bring to a boil. Stir frequently. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for about six minutes, until the sauce is reduced to about 3 1/2 cups. Keep stirring this whole time, and watch out for boil-overs! It's a sticky, horrible mess if you let yourself get distracted and the sauce boils over. Trust me. It happened yesterday. Twice. Maybe don't try to make the sauce when you have a needy five year old distracting you.
OK, now that you've made the sauce, back to the cake.
When the cake has cooked for 45 minutes, take it out of the oven, and pour 3/4 cup of the sauce over the cake. Pop it back in the oven for another 15 minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes after it's done baking, then turn out on your cake plate.
Cut the cake into slices, and drizzle the warmed sauce over each slice of cake.
If you love apple, try a fabulous fall variation on this recipe and make sticky toffee apple pudding.
It might look humble, but the flavor is absolutely exceptional. Definitely worthy of celebrating a birthday for my darling husband/webmaster! Happy birthday, Drew!